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 U.S. to put off subcritical nuclear test Tue Jun 04 2002 21:32:45 ET WASHINGTON, June 4 (Kyodo) The United States will postpone a subcritical nuclear experiment at an underground test site in Nevada from the initially scheduled date of Wednesday due to a technical issue, the Energy Department said Tuesday. The department did not disclose detailed reasons for the postponement and said it has yet to decide when the test will be conducted. A technical issue has occurred during preparations for the test and it is expected to take some days to fix the problem, a department official said. The planned test, the 17th of its kind and the fourth under the administration of President George W. Bush, will be part of the so-called Oboe series of relatively small-scale subcritical nuclear experiments. The U.S. argues the tests, which do not involve nuclear explosions, yield essential scientific data and technical information needed to maintain the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpiles. In subcritical nuclear experiments, chemical high explosives blow up special nuclear materials, including plutonium, a main ingredient of nuclear weapons. The tests differ from traditional nuclear weapons tests in that they are intended not to reach criticality, or not to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Antinuclear groups, however, say subcritical nuclear tests run counter to the spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear weapons. END |
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